


drowning in the ripple effect

by AveryTheTitaniumLady



Series: Our kind of love [4]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex Has Bad Parents (Julie and The Phantoms), Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Parenting, Bobby Has Bad Parents, Bonding, Boys In Love, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Healthy Relationships, Hugs, M/M, Men Crying, Movie Night, Multi, Never Have I Ever, Queerplatonic Relationships, Reggie Has Bad Parents (Julie and The Phantoms), Sleepovers, Sleepy Boys, Sunset Curve (Julie and The Phantoms)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:54:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27448192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AveryTheTitaniumLady/pseuds/AveryTheTitaniumLady
Summary: Sunset Curve has a sleepover in the studio one night, and things get real.(Also known as: the boys talk about their families, some tears are shed, and then there is cuddling)
Relationships: Alex & Bobby | Trevor Wilson, Alex & Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Luke Patterson & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex & Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Luke Patterson/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Luke Patterson, Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Reggie, Luke Patterson & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Luke Patterson/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: Our kind of love [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986427
Comments: 20
Kudos: 257





	drowning in the ripple effect

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all know the drill by now. Song for this fic is Ripple Effect by Scott Helman, with some bonus vibes of House Key (also by Scott Helman) and Your Rainy Days by Joshua Radin.
> 
> This fic takes place after chapter 2 of somebody to someone

Bobby liked being in a band. Being a rhythm guitarist was pretty cool, and he liked hanging out with Luke, Alex, and Reggie too. He got to make music, and it definitely helped that chicks digged musicians and there was no competition between him and the other boys, what with whatever it was that they had going on. 

Unlike the rest of his bandmates, Bobby actually had a fairly decent relationship with his family. His parents didn’t fight, they didn’t really care that he was in a band, and even if he was gay (which he wasn’t), his uncle was gay and his parents didn’t seem like that mattered to them. Overall, his parents just sort of… ignored him. They’d let him turn the garage into a studio when the band had started to need a place to practice that wasn’t at school, but it wasn’t like they ever came to gigs. They couldn’t even be bothered to come to his parent teacher conferences. His family wasn’t perfect, but in a lot of ways it was still better than the other’s. 

A few weeks after Bobby had walked in on his bandmates cuddling on New Year’s, Luke ran away from home. He started living in the studio, and with how bad things were at Reggie’s house, he was spending most nights there too. Alex started staying over once or twice a week just to get away from his parents for a bit, and after another couple weeks it was rare for there to be a night where there weren't at least two of his bandmates sleeping in the garage. One day though, it was all four of them. 

It was a Friday night, and practice had run late. They’d been playing for hours, and by the time they decided to stop even Bobby was too tired and having too much fun to walk up the path to his quietly detached house. They ended up on the floor, sitting in a circle and leaning up against the furniture. His bandmates had changed into comfy clothes, all of them having practically a second wardrobe up in the loft at this point, and Alex had loaned Bobby some sweatpants so he could get cozy too. 

(Reggie had looked at him a bit weird when he’d asked, head tilted to the side as he scrunched up his eyebrows. “Can’t you just grab some from your room? Your house is like, right there.” 

Bobby had run his hand through his hair and shrugged, and he must have looked as uncomfortable as he’d felt because Reggie had just dropped it.)

They’d decided to play “never have I ever” even though they knew pretty much everything about each other at this point, none of them ready to go to bed just yet. It had started off pretty tame, each of them saying things they knew for certain the other’s had done, but before long the asking questions turned into just talking.

Looking around the circle at Luke’s four fingers and Reggie and Alex’s five, Bobby tried to think of something to ask. “...Never have I ever… kissed another boy.” 

The other boys rolled their eyes, each of them lowering a finger, which meant that Bobby was the only one who still had a whole hand. 

“Okay, well, if you’re playing that way then so will I! Never have I ever kissed a girl.”

Bobby lowered his thumb and Luke leaned over to gently shove Alex, pushing him into the couch he was sitting in front of. “Alex, man, you should’ve thought that through a bit more.  _ I’ve _ kissed a girl before.” 

Reggie lowered a finger and smiled, the expression not reaching his eyes. “So have I.” 

Everyone grew silent at that, thinking back to Reggie’s ex (and only) girlfriend. When the silence dragged on and Reggie started to look uncomfortable, Bobby spoke up. 

“She doesn’t count.” He leaned over and grabbed the other boy’s hand, gently unfolding the finger he’d just lowered. Reggie looked down at his hand and then back up at Bobby, a small smile flashing across his face. 

“Okay my turn! Never have I ever had a sibling.” 

Alex glared at Luke, mouth dropping open. “Really? You’re really going to go after me like that?” 

Luke shrugged, and Reggie giggled at the look of betrayal on Alex’s face before growing somber once more. “I always wanted an older brother, when I was younger. If I’d had a brother like you I think home would've been a bit more bearable, you know?”

“Well, I mean, I don’t know what it’s like to have an older brother, just to be one? But if my parents ever acted towards Kat the way yours do to you… I don’t know what I’d do.” Alex looked around a bit helplessly, throwing his hands up in the air. “I’m already one word away from punching your parents, and I only  _ hear _ about the shit they do.”

Bobby watched as everyone grew quiet again, and shifted from leaning against the chair to sitting criss-crossed like Reggie was so fond of doing. “I think if I had a sibling my parents would just pay less attention to me than they already do. Just one more kid to ignore, yeah?”

Everyone sort of nodded at that, and then Reggie moved to join Luke and Alex by the couch. Bobby closed his eyes, feeling an inexplicable heat behind his eyes, almost like there were tears welling up. He must’ve been fucking exausted, because he  _ never _ cried. And if he was going to cry, why would it be happening right now? It’s not like he was doing anything strange, other people talked about their families all the time and the boys cuddled around him constantly. Hell, the boys talked about  _ their _ families often enough, and compared to that Bobby really had nothing to cry about. 

Bobby took a deep breath, and when he opened his eyes back up he saw Alex sling an arm around each of the others and pull them close. A tear rolled down his cheek and he quickly wiped it away, but Luke heard his small sniffle. He looked up, staring at Bobby with an indecipherable look on his face, and Bobby clenched his jaw and willed himself to stop crying. Another tear fell despite his best efforts, and Luke’s expression cracked. 

Raising an arm, Luke jerked his head as if to say “come here”. Bobby looked at him, eyebrows pulling together in confusion. 

“Come  _ here _ , Bobby.” 

Something in his chest tightened, and he could feel his bottom lip quivering. Starting to cry in earnest, Bobby quickly went over to Luke. The other boy pulled him to his chest, cradling him with one arm and supporting his back with a raised knee. Burying his face in Luke’s shirt, Bobby tried to stifle his sobs. “I’m sorry. I- I don’t. I don’t know what- what happened.”

Luke just quietly shushed him and started to gently draw on his back, humming one of the songs they’d been practicing earlier. They sat like that for a few minutes, all piled together while Bobby calmed down. When he felt composed enough, he pulled away from Luke’s chest and looked up at the other boys. Reggie had mimicked his position with Alex, climbing into the space between his legs and laying his head against his chest. Alex had one arm around the boy in his lap and one around Luke, and Luke had one arm around Bobby and the other was holding one of Reggie’s. 

A few months ago, Bobby would never have let himself be in this position. He would have barely tolerated the other three being in this position, if he was being honest. It was just weird to him, that boys could touch each other this way. It seemed like such a girly thing, to cry and to be held while you did so… probably because his dad had always said that real men didn’t cry, now that he was thinking about it. Since he’d befriended Alex, Luke, and Reggie though, he’d slowly come to learn that a lot of things he’d always "known" weren’t actually true. 

“I’m sorry I was so weird about you guys, in the beginning. I just- I didn’t really get it.”

Reggie smiled at him softly from his position curled up in Alex’s lap. “It’s okay, Bobby. You were never mean about it.”

“I was mean about it like my mom gets mean about things, Reggie. I ignored it, tried to pretend it didn’t exist. This is something that matters a lot to you guys and I just passive-aggressively brushed it aside like my parents do when I tell ‘em we’re playing somewhere.” Bobby started to climb out of Luke’s arms, shame burning hot on his cheeks, but Luke pulled him back down. 

“Hey, where are you going?”

“Sorry, I was just-” He stopped, not really sure what to say. He didn’t know where he’d been going, just that he hadn’t felt like they’d want him to stay, since he wasn’t crying anymore.

Alex pulled his arm out from around Luke’s shoulders and rested his hand on Bobby’s knee, catching his eye. “If you’re as mean as your mom, then I’m as angry as my dad.” Bobby opened his mouth to protest, but Alex continued on. “You’ve seen how Luke and I can get. When I’m having a bad day, we can jab at each other for hours.”

“Well, yeah, but you always apologize after. And you’ve been getting way better lately! You’re better at figuring out when you’re having a bad day before it boils over, and leaving before it gets bad.” 

Luke gripped Bobby’s arm, rubbing his thumb in soothing circles. “Exactly, man. We’re all a little bit like our parents, we pick up on some of the things they do, but that doesn’t mean we are them. Doesn’t mean we have to be them.”

“It’s like... ripples, in a pond. The things that they do will affect us, but in smaller ways because we’ll learn from their mistakes, you know?" Alex gestured as he explained, though his movements were limited by all the people in close proximity with him. "The further away from the initial splash, the smaller the ripple. Would your mom have ever said sorry for something like this?”

“... No. Nah, she wouldn’t have.”

Alex looked at him, tilting his head slightly to the side and raising his eyebrows for a second. “There you go. You’re already doing better than her.”

Bobby narrowed his eyes, looking at each of the boys in turn. “Why does it seem like you guys have talked about this before?”

Reggie pipped up for the first time in a while, laughing a bit at Bobby’s accusatory tone. “It’s ‘cause we have. This might be  _ your _ first time at a studio sleepover, but we’ve been doing these for a while.”

“You mean it’s always like this??”

Alex smiled, kissing Reggie on the forehead. “Nah, not always. Sometimes we watch movies or sing karaoke.”

Bobby leaned back a bit and looked at Luke. “Well, I’m a bit tired for karaoke but I wouldn’t mind a movie? What do you think?”

As Luke opened his mouth to reply, he was cut off by Reggie. “Grease!! Let’s watch Grease! Bobby, can you go put it in? I don’t want to move.”

Eyes widening in exasperation, Luke looked to Reggie. “Grease, again? I swear we’ve watched that the last two times you’ve been here!”

“No, last time we watched The Breakfast Club.”

“C’mon Alex, do you really want to watch Grease  _ again _ ?” Alex just smiled, and Luke shook his head. “Fine. Okay. How about we let Bobby decide. Grease or Dirty Dancing?”

Reggie looked at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes he’d ever seen. Unlike Luke, Reggie could do those pleading eyes on command, and right now that was working in his favour. There was no way Bobby could say no to that. 

“I’ll go put on Grease.” As he stood up from Luke’s lap, Reggie let out a little cheer and Luke groaned, exaggerating the roll of his eyes to show that he wasn’t actually mad. 

Bobby got the movie started and walked back over to the guys, freezing when he went to sit down. He wasn’t sure if Luke would be okay with him sitting in his lap again, or if that was just a one time deal. His relationship with them wasn’t even close to what they had with each other, and he didn’t want to overstep his boundaries. The decision was made for him, however, when Luke grabbed his arm and pulled him down to sit in the space between his legs. Nothing was said about it, but Bobby felt the unsaid words all the same. They might’ve loved each other a little differently than they loved him, but they loved him all the same. 

As the movie played on the TV, Bobby couldn’t help but wonder how they would manage to sit comfortably like this for two more hours. Alex and Luke’s asses had to have been killing them already! 

Luckily for him, this question was answered twenty minutes later, when Reggie started to softly snore. Ever so slowly, Alex shifted so that he was cradling Reggie with an arm under his knees and one under his armpits. He lifted him and turned around, laying the sleeping boy gently on the couch. Alex pressed a kiss to Reggie’s forehead before doing the same to Luke’s and then climbing up to the loft, grabbing sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows that Bobby hadn’t even known were there. He turned off the TV on his way back over, and draped one of the blankets over Reggie and then got Luke and Bobby to help him set up the sleeping bags.

As they tucked themselves in, Bobby quietly whispered to Alex. “Does that always happen?”

Smile spreading across his face, Alex’s eyes flicked up to Reggie. “Yeah. he can never stay awake through a whole movie. Sometimes Luke and I will finish it after he’s fallen asleep, but we’ve all seen Grease so many times that there’s no point staying up later to do that.” 

Bobby hummed thoughtfully, rolling onto his back to stare at the ceiling. 

He might never really understand what his bandmates had with each other, their love that was more than friends but not like dating, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t see how happy it made them. They’d found a family in each other that none of them had at home, and for a brief moment today, Bobby had gotten to be a part of it. Maybe they were all drowning a bit, afraid of becoming their parents, but together they would help each other stay afloat. They made each other better people, and as Bobby fell asleep on the floor of the garage, he’d never felt more proud to be a member of Sunset Curve.

**Author's Note:**

> In writing this I have made myself like Bobby and now my heart is hurting at the idea of his betrayal :(
> 
> Also: Alex has a sister. Her name is Katherine, everyone calls her Kathy except for Alex who calls her Kat. She's gonna show up in another fic at some point 👀
> 
> Anyways yeah. None of their families are great but they found a family in each other and I think that's very cool of them.
> 
> Check me out on tumblr! [ @just-a-little-bit-of-sugar ](https://just-a-little-bit-of-sugar.tumblr.com/) and [ @blue-blurbs ](https://blue-blurbs.tumblr.com/)


End file.
